Counting in Western Pantar
Language overview
Western Pantar is a Papuan language that belongs to the Alor-Pantar languages group. It is spoken in the western part of Pantar island in the Alor archipelago of Indonesia. Western Pantar counts about 10,000 speakers, and has three primary dialects: Tubbe, Mauta, and Lamma.
Due to lack of data, we can only count accurately up to 100 in Western Pantar. Please contact me if you can help me counting up from that limit.
Western Pantar numbers list
- 1 – anuku
- 2 – alaku
- 3 – atiga
- 4 – atu
- 5 – yasing
- 6 – hisnakkung
- 7 – betalaku
- 8 – betiga
- 9 – anukutannang
- 10 – keanuku
- 11 – keanuku wali ye
- 12 – keanuku wali alaku
- 13 – keanuku wali atiga
- 14 – keanuku wali atu
- 15 – keanuku wali yasing
- 16 – keanuku wali hisnakkung
- 17 – keanuku wali betalaku
- 18 – keanuku wali betiga
- 19 – keanuku wali anukutannang
- 20 – kealuku
- 30 – keatiga
- 40 – keatu
- 50 – keyasing
- 60 – kehisnakkung
- 70 – kebetalaku
- 80 – kebetiga
- 90 – keanukutannang
- 100 – ratu
- 1,000 – ribu
Western Pantar numbering rules
Now that you’ve had a gist of the most useful numbers, let’s move to the writing rules for the tens, the compound numbers, and why not the hundreds, the thousands and beyond (if possible).
- Digits from one to nine are rendered by specific words, namely anuku (or ye when compound) [1], alaku [2], atiga [3], atu [4], yasing [5], hisnakkung [6], betalaku [7], betiga [8], and anukutannang [9] (10-1, meaning leave behind one, from tannang, which means leave behind).
- Tens are formed prefixing the multiplier unit by the prefix ku: keanuku [10], kealuku [20], keatiga [30], keatu [40], keyasing [50], kehisnakkung [60], kebetalaku [70], kebetiga [80], and keanuk(u)tannang [90].
- Compound numbers are formed starting with the ten, then the conjunction wali, and the unit (e.g.: keatiga wali hisnakkung [36], kehisnakkung wali atiga [63]).
- The word for hundred is ratu [100], a loanword from Malay.
- The word for thousand is ribu [1,000], a loanword from Malay.
- The word for ten thousand is sanlak [10,000].
Write a number in full in Western Pantar
Let’s move now to the practice of the numbering rules in Western Pantar. Will you guess how to write a number in full? Enter a number and try to write it down in your head, or maybe on a piece of paper, before displaying the result.
Books
The Papuan Languages of Timor, Alor and Pantar. Volume 2
by Antoinette Schapper, editors Walter de Gruyter (2017)
[
Amazon.com, 
Kindle - Amazon.com]
The Papuan Languages of Timor, Alor and Pantar. Volume 1
by Antoinette Schapper, editors Walter de Gruyter (2014)
[ Amazon.com, Kindle - Amazon.com]
Source
- Numeral classifiers and number in two Papuan outliers of East Nusantara (pdf), by Gary Holton, in Papers from 12-ICAL, Volume 1 (2014)
Trans-New Guinea languages
Abui, Huli, Lavukaleve, Ndom, Savosavo, Sawila, Tobelo, Tolaki, and Western Pantar.
Other supported languages
As the other currently supported languages are too numerous to list extensively here, please select a language from the full list of supported languages.